J 3 hj 




Qass. 



S^SI 



BookJ 



Ul 



Modern Agriculture 

IN 

Southern Illinois 



Poorland Farm 

Limestone and Phosphate 
Profitable Dairying 

Success With Livestock 

Up-to-date Orcharding 

and other Facts about 

Illinois' ''Egyptian Empire" 




Illinois Farmers' Institute 



H. E. Young, Secretary 

Springfield 
Illinois 



1721. 



ILLINOIS FARMERS' INSTITUTE 
1921-1922 



President, FRANK I. MANN, Gilman. 
Vice-President, RALPH ALLEN, Delavan. 
Secretary, H. E. YOUNG, Springfield. 
Auditor-Treasureir, CLAYTON C. PICKETT, Chicago. 



BOASD OF BIRECTOBS 

Ex Officio 
Superintendent of Public Instruction — F. G. Blair, Springfield. 
Dean of the College of Agriculture — Eugene Davenport, Urbana. 
Director State Department of Agriculture — B. M. Davison, Springfield. 
President State Horticultural Society — J. R. Lambert, Quincy. 
President State Dairymen's Association — J. P. Mason, Elgin. 

Elected by Congressional Districts. 

1st Dist. — ^Wm. E. Meier, Arlington Heights. 
2nd Dist. — August Geweke. DesPlaines. 
3rd Dist. — W. J. Fulton, Tinley Park. 
4th Dist. — H. Clay Calhoun, 915 Lumber Exchange Bldg., Chicago. 
5th Dist. — C. V. Gregory, 22?, W. Jackson boul., Chicago. 
6th Dist. — L. C. Brown, LaGrange. 
7th Dist. — Chas. Gray, 5514 University ave., Chicago. 
8th Dist. — Arthur C. Page, 523 Plymouth Court. Chicago. 
9th Dist. — Clayton C. Pickett, 1046 1st Nat. Bk. bldg., Chicago. 
• •♦. 10th Dist. — John B. Barrptt, Prairie View. 
;ithl3lst. — J,«P. Masor\, Elgin. 
; •12th Dist. — «fe5. F. Tullock, Reckford. 
• • 13th Dist. — W. G. .Ciiftiss, Stockton. 
14th Dist.^ — G. A. 'Switzer, jVCicomb. 
l^h Dist. — Frank S. Haynes, Geneseo. 
16th Disi-^Ralph Allen, Delavan. 

7th Dist. — S. B. Mason, Bloomington. 
18th Dist — F. I. Mann, Gilman. 
19th Dist. — J. B. Burrows, Decatur. 
20th Dist. — G. G. Hopping, Havana. 
21st Dist. — W. E. Holben, Edinburg. 
22nd Dist. — E. W. Burroughs, Edwardsville. 
23rd Dist. — O. L. Wakefield, Robinson. 
24th Dist. — D. M. Marlin, Norris City. 
25th Dist. — R. B. Muckelroy, Carbondale. 



. 16th 
• I7t 



DIUPABTMENT OP HOUSEHOItD SCrCNCi: 

President — Dr. Eva M. Wilson, Manhattan. 
First Vice President — Mrs. S. B. Bradt, DeKalb. 
Second Vice President — Mrs. W. H. Heath, Danville. 
Secretary — Mrs. H. A. McKeene, Springfield. 



ScHNEPp & Barnes, Printers 
^ Springfield, III. 



LIBRARX,^_,g(JNGRESS 

SEP2;Jl936 
••• 

riVISIOW^OF DOCUMENTS 



c2_o 






POORLAND FARM. 

(H. E. Young) 

Poorland Farm in Marion County, Southern Illinois was owned 
and operated by Dr. Cyril G. Hopkins as a practical business enter- 
prise.* He selected and purchased the land primarily because of its im- 
poverished condition. By systematic soil treatment this land was within 
a few years built up to a state of fertility and crop production standards 
that equalled and even surpassed many high-priced corn belt farms. 
While conducted as a purely private business this farm became noted 
throughout the State as a wonderful example of what can be accom- 
plished on Southern Illinois land when rightly farmed. Its outstanding 
crop yields have attracted state-wide attention, particularly when it is 
known that before Dr. Hopkins acquired the land it would raise nothing 
but poverty grass and mortgages. Luxuriant fields of clover, forty- 
bushel wheat crops and corn averaging above fifty bushels per acre 
were produced on this land which was generally acknowledged to be 
the poorest of the poor soil in Southern Illinois — all within a few 
years and by a simple method of soil treatment easily adaptable on any 
farm anywhere. 

In 1903 Dr. Hopkins made his first purchase of Southern Illinois 
farm land. From then until his untimely death 
he was actively engaged in operating this 
land, and from time to time added to his 
holdings until the farm contained over 500 
acres. This farm was typical Southern Illi- 
nois prairie land, the soil a gray silt loam, 
commonly but erroneously called "hardpan". 
It consists of a friable gray loam at the top, 
becoming nearly white at a depth of ten or 
twelve inches. This is underlaid by a tight clay 
subsoil which is next to impervious to water. 

The Hopkins 
farm was no bet-' 
ter than the aver- 
age run of this 
poor, and impover- 
ished Southern Illi- 
nois land — if any- 
thing, it was below 
the average in soil 
fertility. Those 
who knew of its 
impoverished con- 
dition referred to 





AN ACKt YIELD OF 
WHEAT F ROWLAND 
TREATED WITH FARM 
/^\ANUKE ONLY 



AN ACRE YIFLD OF 
WflEAT FROM LAND 
TKEATEP WITH MANURE, 
LIMESTONE -^-^"PHOSFMATE: 



* Since the death of Dr. Hopkins, Poorland Farm has been operated under 
the auspices of The Hopkins Memorial Association, one of the chief objects of 
this association being to provide for the continuance of the farm along the exact 
lines laid down by its noted founder. 



:3j 



it as "Poorland Farm'' (which was finally adopted by the owner as the 
farm name) and were inclined to question the sanity of anyone who 
would pay real money for such obviously poor land. But the Doctor 
was neither crazy, nor ignorant of the true condition of the soil. He 
knew it was poor, so poor it would raise nothing besides poverty grass 
and mortgages, but that did not dampen his conviction that it could 
be made productive of profitable crops. 

The fact that it was poor land, agriculturally abandoned, made 
it all the more desirable from his standpoint. It could be bought 
cheaply and unless soil investigations were all wrong, could be profit- 
ably improved. He was ready to stake his reputation as a soil doctor 
on a practical demonstration of this kind. He burned his bridges 
behind him, and if crop production counts for anything, he lived to 
see his theory proven beyond doubt. Poorland farm was improved 
so that its crop yields became equal to those on high-price corn belt 
lands of Central Illinois, and its soil is no longer what its name 
signifies. But before citing these remarkable crop production results, 
it is well to note briefly the methods by which they were secured under 
Dr. Hopkins arrangement. 

How Poorland Farm was Improved. 

The first problem in the management of Poorland farm was to 
secure a clover crop. The soil was "too poor" to raise clover. Its 
owner interpreted this condition to mean that lime was needed. He 
had found that clover cannot grow luxuriantly on a sour soil. 
Ground limestone was purchased by the carload, and spread upon 
the farm. It was first shipped in from Missouri before any near by 
quarries were opened in Illinois, the cost was high, but its use proved 
decidedly profitable. 

Limestone has been going on to the farm ever since. The plan 
was to cover forty or more acres each year, as labor and other con- 
ditions at the farm would permit. Some years only forty acres were 
treated, while in others two or three forties were covered. The ap- 
plications were from two to three tons per acre once in six years. 
Rock phosphate was applied at the rate of one to one and one-half 
tons per acre once during the same period. This was spread on 
clover and turned under, manure being applied also when available. 
The limestone corrected the soil acidity which had so long prevented 
the growing of clover, and the phosphate supplied the necessary plant 
food markedly deficient in this soil. The plowing under of the clover 
and the use of manure provided the humus making material, the decay 
of which helps liberate the phosphorus from the raw rock and po- 
tassium, and other mineral plant food from the supply already in the 
soil. 

In a word, this soil treatment is the secret of success on the 
Hopkins farm. Limestone, phosphorus and humus are necessary for 
the permanent improvement of the prairie soils of Southern Illinois, 
and have proved out in a large and practical way on this and other 
farms throughout this southern section. 



No Guess- Work on This Farm. 

As a trained scientist, Dr. Hopkins did not believe in guess work. 
As a practical farmer, he was of similar mind. Therefore, check 
strips, running entirely across the field, were left in each forty acres 
on Poorland farm. These check strips were six rods wide, one half 
(three rods) of which received neither lime or phosphate treatment, 
while the other half received limestone, but no phosphate, the balance 
of the field receiving the full treatment as described above. The 
same application of manin-e and the same rotation of crops pre- 
vailed on tbe entire field, check strips included. 

This system was inaugurated in every field receiving soil treat- 
ment, and of course gives an absolute check on crop results each 
and every season. Tbus the value of lime alone can be checked up 
on each crop in comparison with results from lime and phosphate, and 
also with results on soil which had no treatment whatever except- 
ing farm manure. All that is needed to note the value of this soil 
treatment is to observe the fields. The check strips can easily be 
distinguished as far as the eye can see the crop. The untreated strips 
are devoid of clover, and continue to produce poverty grass. The 
grain crops are very light, and seldom pay the cost of production. 
The treated portion of the fields grow clover luxuriantly and pro- 
duce very profitable grain crops. 

Actual Crop Yields. 

The success of Poorland Farm is best illustrated by actual crop 
yields. These annual yields are remarkable and not only compare 
favorably with yields in the fertile corn belt sections, but actually 
surpass the results secured on the majority of corn belt farms. A 
field of wheat at Poorland averaged" 35^ bushels per acre on the 36 
acres which received the prescribed treatment of limestone and rock 
phosphate. The check stri]). which had received manure only, pro- 
duced 113^ bushels per acre. 

This particular field had been agriculturally abandoned five years 
prior to Dr. Hopkins' purchase of the farm. About four tons per 
acre of ground limestone, and two tons per acre of ground raw rock 
phosphate had been applied, together with a uniform application of 
six loads per acre of farm manure. The cost of the limestone and 
phosphate, and spreading them on the land, averaged $1.75 per acre 
per year, and resulted in an increase of 24 bushels of wheat per acre. 
At 93 cents per bushel this one crop of wheat paid the initial cost of 
the land, and treatment of the same. 

Another wheat crop gave the following yields : 

With manure alone 7.7 bushels per acre 

With manure and limestone 21.3 bushels per acre 

With manure, limestone and rock phosphate. . . .44.1 bushels per acre 

In a very poor year for wheat the crop harvested 17.6 bushels per 
acre on the treated land ; 4.3 bushels per acre on the untreated check 
strip, and 9.2 bushels per acre on the strip receiving limestone only. 



6 

Yields of other crops present similar figures in favor of the lime 
and phosphate treatment. Corn has averaged above 55 bushels per 
acre, and a single crop of alsike clover seed sold for enough money to 
pay for the land, and the limestone and phosphate used in its treatment. 

These remarkable results on Poorland Farm not only prove the 
soundness, and efficiency of the Hopkins soil doctrine, but conclusively 
demonstrate the wonderful farming possibilities on Southern Illinois 
land. What Dr. Hopkins accomplished on Poorland Farm is no more 
than may be accomplished on other farms in Southern Illinois where 
similar soil treatment is practiced. There is nothing mysterious about 
the farming operations of this great soil investigator and teacher, who 
not only pointed the way to profitable farming in Southern Illinois, 
but who actually and positively achieved such notable success on his 
own farm in the heart of Illinois' "Egypt". Similar success awaits 
those who adopt and systematically follow this plan of operation as 
initiated and practiced on Poorland Farm. The method is practical, the 
cost economical, the results sure and certain. 

EXPERIENCE WITH LIMESTONE AND PHOSPHATE. 

(J. R. Midyctti 

In 1906 I bought a hundred and twenty acres of what was then 
known as worn out prairie land in Franklin County, Southern Illinois 
near Ewing, and paid five thousand dollars for it. There was a mort- 
gage on that farm, but I went ahead and improved the land and at the 
end of these improvements I was near three thousand dollars in debt. 
I had a small family, one daughter and one son. and the very best that 
I could do on that worn out prairie land was to make a living, pay my 
interests and my taxes. 

It is fenced ofl^ into twenty-acre tracts, most of it, and through 
the help of the Animal Husbandry Department of the University we 
have kept a strict account, or as near as possible since 1912 which was 
about the time I used the first limestone. 

Field number five, is the first field where we used limestone. In 
1907 this field raised a ton and a half of timothy hay per acre; in 1908 
it dropped down to a ton ; in 1909 it was in corn and raised twenty-five 
bushels per acre; in 1910 it was in wheat and produced eleven bushels 
per acre, and in 1911 it was in wheat again. That year it was limed 
with about two tons of limestone per acre, and the yield was twenty- 
six bushels of wheat per acre, and the next spring, 1912. it was sowed 
in clover, but failed to catch. In 1912 it was limed again. 

Please notice, I did not go back on it because I made a failure, 
but I put on just the same amount of lime again in 1912. In 1912 the 
wheat fell back to thirteen bushels per acre, and was practically a fail- 
ure, but that fall, in September, 1912, I cut a ton and a half of clover 
to the acre where the wheat had grown. In 1913 it made two and a 
half tons of clover hay per acre. In 1914 it was in wheat again and 
raised twenty-eight bushels per acre, and in 1915 it was again in wheat 
and raised twenty-three bushels per acre. The clover again failed to 



catch. I used wheat in order to get a money crop off that land, but 
I tried not to make it any worse. In 1916 it was in clover again and 
I got three tons of clover hay per acre and two bushels of seed for 
the second crop. Then in 1917 both lime and phosphorus were used. 

All along in these different years there was, of course, some manure 
used, but in 1917 there were two tons of lime and a half ton of phos- 
phate applied to this land again. That year, in 1917, it made forty- 
two and a half bushels of wheat per acre, and again the clover failed 
to catch, on account of being such a heavy crop of wheat and straw. 
In 1918 it was again sowed in wheat and thirty-one bushels per acre 
were harvested, and in 1919 it was in clover and cut two and a half 
tons per acre. 

This field was no more than an ordinary piece of ground. It has 
been farmed for over a hundred years. I am satisfied that even from 
the time it Was first broken as prairie ground it never raised as large 
crops as it did after it was treated. 

Another field, number nine, which w^as in corn, was limed in 
1913. That was after we commenced keeping the records, and it 
was a very dry season. It raised fourteen bushels of corn per acre. 




Limestone on Midyett Farm Made Highly Profitable Crops. 

In 1914 it was in oats and raised twenty-six bushels of oats per 
acre. It is flat prairie ground, just the same as thousands of acres 
in southern Illinois, which do not raise practically anything. I saw 
then that there was not enough lime, and in the fall of 1914 I limed 
it again, put it to wheat, and raised seventeen bushels per acre. That 
field was cultivated just the same after I used the lime as before. 
Before it was limed, it was in wheat, and ran eight bushels per 
acre, and one year as low as three bushels per acre. After it was 
limed the second time it made seventeen bushels per acre, and it 
was not a good year for wheat either, but it was a good year to 
catch clover. In 1916, which was the year in which few got a 



8 

clover crop, I raised a clover and timothy mixture of three tons of 
hay per acre. In 1917 it was still in clover and timothy and made 
two tons of hay. In 1918 it was still in clover and timothy and 
harvested two and a half tons of hay per acre. In 3 919 it was in 
corn, and the corn in our country, especially on untreated land, was 
practically a failure. Many fields were not worth taking care of at 
all. Some of the land around this field had not been planted at all, 
some of it was planted and cultivated and raised scarcely any corn 
at all, but this field, with the same amount of sunshine and same 
amount of rain raised, forty-five bushels of corn per acre. It did 
not have the cultivation it should have had either, on account of 
the season. 

Field ten, the other half of this same field, is more rolling, and 
some of it washes badly. Our fathers hauled manure there, and we 
hauled some there, but we don't do it any more. We quit putting 
it on and letting it wash off. The land that adjoins it is not worth 
cultivating at all. I would not cultivate it if it were given to me 
without putting anything on it. This field, was in corn in 1917. It 
had been limed in 1912 and again in 1917. It was limed just before 
the corn was planted. We put on about three tons to the acre. 
This field in 1917, raised forty-two bushels of corn per acre, and 
was in oats in 1918 and raised thirty-six bushels of oats to the acre. 
The clover was seeded in the oats, and in 1919 we cut from that field 
three tons of clover hay per acre. 

When I commenced liming the}^ said two tons was enough for 
four years. If a man is already in debt he does not want to go in 
debt more and buy limestone. He would have to have a pretty good 
nerve. I thought two tons was enough per acre and would not use 
any more, but I soon found out it made a difference in the corn and 
wheat, although it did not make much difference in the clover. I 
could not see how a man could keep a farm up without raising 
clover. So you see I went back just as soon as I could with another 
dressing, and that brought the results. I would advise a man, even 
if he has to borrow the money, to put on as much as four tons of 
lime per acre, because less than that on this worn-out prairie land 
will not make it grow clover. Of course, they will tell you that this 
old prairie land won't grow clover, never did grow clover and never 
will. That is what they told ine, but T thought if the Experiment 
Station there adjoining my farm could raise clover I could too. 'I 
have sure done it — made clover grow on that old prairie ground. 
It will grow there just as well as. anywhere else, and it will grow 
just a little bit better than it will on the timber land. You have 
the old original soil, the virgin soil, and it only needs a little liming 
to make it produce. If you have washed-off land it is pretty hard to 
make it grow clover. 

On this land after it is limed and manured and you grow clover 
it is necessary that you use some phosphorus. Field seven was 
limed foir the first time in 1914, that is, it was limed in the fall of 
1913, and in 1914 we had fifteen bushels of wheat per acre. That is 



one part of field seven. It is cut in two by a branch and one part 
is known as 7-A and the other 7-B. Then in 1915 it was sow^ed to 
clover and some timothy, but it failed to catch. In 1915 it was in 
pasture, and again in the fall of 1915 it was limed and put in 
wheat. It was in pasture one year. This was a bad wheat year and 
we raised twelve bushels and a half of wheat per acre. 

Field 7-A was in wheat in 1916 and produced twelve and a half 
bushels of wheat to the acre, and even off that stubble there was about 
a ton and a half of clover hay. Then in 1917 it was in clover. There 
are five acres in this part of the field. It raised three and a half tons 
of clover hay per acre. In the fall of 1917 it was again put into 
wheat, and in 1918 it produced thirty-five bushels of wheat to the 
acre. Again it failed to catch in clover and was sown to wheat, and 
in 1919 it produced twenty-seven bushels of wheat per acre. 




42 Bushels of Wheat per Acre on Southern Illinois Land. 

On the other part of the field seven, in which there is ten acres, 
there was wheat, the same as the other. It was all in wheat that year 
and produced thirteen bushels of wheat per acre. In 1915 it was in 
pasture. It was limed in the fall of 1913 and then again in the fall 
of 1915. In 1914 it failed to catch in clover, and was limed again. In 
1916 that same ten acres was put in corn and raised fifty-five and 
a half bushels of corn per acre. 

The average of corn on untreated land was twenty or twenty-five 
bushels, somewhere about that, on the good farms, as we would call 
them. In 1917 this part of the field was in oats and raised fifty-two 
bushels of oats per acre, and in 1918 it was put to wheat. There was 
a little better than half a ton of phosphorus applied to the acre, and 
the wheat this last year, in 1919, made twenty-five bushels per acre. 



10 

GOOD RESULTS ON ALL SOILS. 

(Robert Clanahan.) 

The first time we used lime on our farm, which lies in the Bay 
Creek Bottoms of Pope County, was in 1910. We prepared a fifty- 
acre field for oats, clover and grass. In this field there were two types 
of soil, one a tight clay, wet land which I knew needed the lime and I 
covered it first. The other was a sandy soil, on which we had grown 
excellent clover. The action of the lime, a ton to the acre on this first 
soil, was to loosen it, aiding tile drains, and I got a fair crop of oats, 
good clover and grass. On the other sandy soil I could tell no differ- 
ence until after a year's pasture, and then I found that the clover lasted 
a year longer than did the clover on the land which had not received 
the lime. 

The next field that we used lime on was a sandy loam with some 
clay. We prepared it for alfalfa. A ton of lime to the acre on this 
land gave us a fair stand of alfalfa. We broke it six years later, 
putting on another ton of lime and a thousand pounds of phosphorus, 
along with the application of manure, and we got what we consider 
good results with corn, wheat, clover and timothy, which came in suc- 
cession on this field. 

The next field where we used limestone and phosphorus was an 
adjoining one of similar type, a sandy ridge with a slight clay mixture. 
I failed in my application of lime and I did not get the results which 
I should have if I doubled the application, nor did I get the results 
from the phosphorus that I would have gotten if I used a heavier ap- 
plication of manure, or put the phosphorus on with a heavy soiling 
crop. Later, when we turned over wheat stubble with the catch crop 
of clover and crab grass we could tell the results of the phosphate. 

The next field upon which we used the phosphate and no lime was 
gray silt alluvial soil that lies over a prismatic subsoil. We used a thou- 
sand pounds of raw rock phosphate with an application of manure. 
The first year there wasn't a very decided difiference in the yield of 
corn, though the "ears were slightly better, but the next season, with 
another application of manure, and the turning under of a rather heavy 
crop of weeds, a voluntary growth of clover and grasses, there was 
a decidedly better yield and a better ear of corn ; though there was no 
noticeable difference in the growth of the stalks. 

The next field on which we used phosphate was a sixty-five acre 
field of a similar type of soil, an alluvial silt, with the same prismatic 
subsoil. We put on an application of a thousand pounds per acre on 
a ten-year sod. This had been pasture land and had been pastured 
pretty close. The phosphate was applied and the land was broken 
early in the spring with no application of manure. This was a mistake, 
because the first year there was absolutely no checking up. Fifty 
acres of this field received the phosphate, and about fifteen acres did 
not. The field averaged something over fifty bushels of corn per acre, 
but you could not tell the line of demarcation between the phosphate 
area and that which did not receive it. The next year, however, a 
heavy growth of weeds, something like a man's shoulder high, and 



11 

tl^e clovers and grasses which grew up on the soil were turned over, 
and there was a difference in the size of the ears, and a slight difference 
in the yield. 

The next field where we used limestone was a pasture, and I ap- 
plied a ton to the acre and we could tell the results by an increased 
growth in the clover with this application of lime. The other fields were 
not in shape to handle, that is the reason I used the lime on this field. 
Even if it wasn't the proper method of application I got some good 
results. 

In nearby hill lands I know of one field which was so poor that it 
would scarcely grow weeds, yet with an application of two tons of lime 
per acre and the sowing of inoculated sweet clover it has produced 
a very creditable crop of corn under very adverse conditions. I don't 
know the exact yield. On the same farm last summer I walked through 
sweet clover that was grown simply from the application of lime to 



m£^^^^Mr 













Bundles so Thick in This Field They Could Not Be Windrowed. 

the soil which was at least eight feet high and so rank that a man had 
to force his way through it. This field was, I should judge, as poor 
as the other one before the application of lime. 

On another farm of a red clay soil where the farmer had failed to 
get clover, he applied a ton of limestone to the acre and got a good stand 
of clover, and grew five bushels more per acre of wheat the first year 
than he did on an adjoining field which had not been farmed so long 
and which had not received the limestone. Other farmers in our 
territory have had good success with limestone and phosphorus. Some 
of our farmers have very successfully grown alfalfa on the poor hill- 
sides by the application of lime and phosphate. 

EXCELLENT CLOVER STANDS. 

(Robert Endicott.) 

Our soil is a little different soil from most of what they call the 
corn belt of the State. It is clay loam, with very little sand, in fact 



12 

not enough sand to say it is any at all, and no rocks at all. In 1905 
or 1906 I used my first application of crushed limestone, and not 
until about 1910 or 1911 was I able to get hold of any more. About 
that time I had another carload and used all of it myself. I spread it 
all over the place, out of the wagon with a shovel. I applied, as near 
as I can guess at it, about one ton to the acre. It was in the fall when 
I had it hauled from the railroad to my place. In the winter one day, 
after cleaning out the barn. I told the man to "take a shovel and scrape 
up all that lime and take it over in the field." Well, he did so. He 
probably had three-quarters of a manure spreader bed full, and be- 
ing that time of the year he didn't care to go down on the hillside 
any, so he took it out on the ridge. As the spreader became empty 
he began to make a circle, and in winding up he made a circle that 
resembled the letter "J." Of course, he thought nothing about it 
at that time. In the spring I sowed the field in clover. I had a 
splendid stand — most always do when it first comes up — ^but along 
in July my clover began to disappear, all but where the lime was. 




Limestone and Phosphate Make Big Clover Crops. 

Where there was no lime the clover went away, and where there was 
lime it grew fast, and you could see that letter "J" in the field for a 
quarter of a mile. That encouraged me a little bit, and since then 
I have used several carloads. With our soil, an application of three 
tons per acre will give good results. 

I have been using rock phosphate ten, twelve or fifteen years 
in rather limited amounts. I have found rock phosphate a great 
help. In fact, I have applied it on land that would not grow clover 
before, but by the application of sixteen to eighteen hundred pounds 
of rock phosphate per acre, without any lime, I was able to grow a 
splendid growth of clover hay, probably a ton and three-quarters to 
two tons per acre. The way I applied the phosphate in that case was 
by drilling it on the wheat after the wheat was sowed in the fall. 
I never have been able to get the conditions right to use rock phos- 
phate and turn it under with a legume crop, which I believe is the 
proper wav. Conditions have never been such that I could employ 
that method. 



13 

DAIRYING IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS. 

(Professor R. E. Muckelroy.) 

We all have to agree that we are in a great prospective live- 
stock producing section, therefore our best interest is involved in 
getting into a system of livestock production that will conserve 
our soil fertility and at the same time bring us in quick and profi- 
table returns. To this end I want to champion the dairy cow for 
southern Illinois. In my judgment, the dairy cow is most import- 
ant to us. 

First, because the profit risked is less in dairy cattle than in 
beef or hog production for if we feed high priced feeds in the begin- 
ning of the feeding period, we have to market that product at the 
end of the period, perhaps when the product is at a very low mar- 
ket value, but when we feed it to a dairy cow, we market that pro- 
duct that week or in the same week in which we feed, therefore 
when we feed high priced feed, 85 per cent of the time we can 
market our milk product on a high market with our high price 
feeds. 

The second reason is that it affords steady employment. The 
labor question in southern Illinois is a serious one. Our work 
piles up at certain seasons of the year. We employ labor during 
that season. We let it go when we get done. Consequently it 
goes into the city and finds profitable employment and we can't 
get it back, but if we were in the dairy business, something that 
would give our men employment the year round, we could keep 
them on the farm. 

One of the advantages presented in the dairy business is that 
it brings us in a constant revenue. That is one thing we like to 
have, a business that is always bringing in something, something 
that helps us keep the spirit of the game going. 

Again, it helps the farmer to carry on his business on a cash 
basis. It is hard for the farmers to borrow money to buy corn and 
hay to make the next year's crop on. I know a man in Jackson 
County who brought in over $40 worth of milk products this week, 
and that is the average he sells, and he is not in the dairy business 
alone but on the diversified system. So I say our dairy business 
helps to carry on our farm work on a cash basis. 

Another reason for dairying is that our soils are well adapted to 
growing forage crops. They are better suited for milk products 
than for beef or hogs. Our silt loams and clay loams are better 
adapted for raising grasses than anything else. Of course, wheat 
grows well. 

Our climatic conditions help the pasture proposition, but this 
is one of the things that has to be improved upon. If we look into 
the dairying business around Madison, Wisconsin, or south Michi- 
gan, and come back to southern Illinois, we will say we have the 
best land on earth for pasture if we handle it as it should be 
handled. The seasons north are very, very short. 



.'14 

The next reason is that expensive housing is not necessary here 
in this end of the State, as required farther north. We need good, 
comfortable, substantial houses, but there is quite a difference in 
going into a barn in northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin or south 
Michigan and seeing how they have to house their animals as com- 
pared to good, comfortable barns here. 

The dairy cow afifords the choicest human food we can pro- 
duce and we are near to markets. We have excellent marketing 
facilities and accommodations. 

Now, I am not for dairying in southern Illinois to the exclu- 
sion of everything else because our conditions are not that way. By 
nature we hate to stick to a job 24 hours in the day. But on every 
farm one hundred, one hundred-twenty, or one-hundred-sixty 
acres, I believe that there should be at least eight good dairy cows. 
We are in a diversified Section of farming because of climatic con- 
ditions, and therefore we shall always have to use our animals to 
consume our roughages as an aid to soil fertility. 

In a 100 bushel corn crop we remove 100 pounds of nitrogen 
and 17 pounds of phosphorus, in a 50 bushel wheat crop 71 pounds 
of nitrogen and 13 pounds of phosphorus, but when we sell 10,000 
pounds of milk we are only selling 5.7 pounds of nitrogen and 7 
pounds of phosphorus. AVhen we sell 500 pounds of butter fat, we 
are only selling 1 pound of nitrogen and 0.3 of a pound of phos- 
phorus. Therefore, from the standpoint of soil fertility, it is best 
to convert our roughages into milk products, rather than sell all 
the fertility from the soil. Our soil is well adapted to diversified 
farming. We must always have as many crops growing as possible. 
We are not in a corn producing section, but we can raise enough 
corn for silage. We must raise legumes for roughage, but we will 
have to buy some concentrates. We must raise the feeds that will 
cause our cows to produce the most milk. No section ever de- 
veloped into a great dairy section where the greater part of the feed 
had to be purchased. If we can grow our feed we can get the grow- 
ers' margin as well as the milk producers' profit. But with a per- 
manent system of soil fertility, using limestone, rock phosphate and 
organic matter, we can improve conditions greatly. Not one pound 
of commercial fertilizer need be used. 

Soil Treatment Pays. 

The wealth of southern Illinois is not in our mines because 
those will sometime be gone, but the wealth of southern Illinois is 
in her soils from which our very existence must come through her 
industry. So it is time for us to be thinking about treating our 
soils in the southern end of the State. In southern Illinois, there is 
approximately ten million acres. On this land, five million tons of 
Hmestone should be spread each year, but I am told only four hun- 
dred thousand tons were applied last year, the greater part of it 
on the hill lands of southern Illinois. One hundred thousand more 
would have been applied if we could have gotten it but we could not 



15 



get it. We must grow legumes. They require limestone. From 
the legumes we must get our organic matter, conserve our nitrogen 
supply, and use them as roughage concentrates. 

If I would suggest a crop rotation, it would be something like 
this : one-fifth of the cultivated land to corn and sunflowers ; one- 
fourth to winter grains, wheat, barley or rye ; one-eighth to the 
spring grains, soy beans and cow peas ; one-fourth to clover and 
alfalfa. What does this mean? It means that on a hundred sixty 
acre farm we have thirty acres of corn and sunflowers, sixty acres 
wheat and barle}' ; thirty acres clover and alfalfa for hay; thirty 
acres sweet clover for pasture, leaving ten acres for the house and 
farm buildings. 




i_;'.uii iJcUii CuUi> ^Make Guod in "Egypt." 

The question is often asked here in southern Illinois — "Will 
it pay to treat soil?" Let me give you the figures from the Cutler 
Experimental Field between Perry and Randolph Counties. For 
the fourteen-year period we have the following result : With no 
treatment, corn yield was 17.4 bushels per acre, where limestone 
was used, it produced 39.5 bushels ; for wheat, no treatment, 7 
bushels, where limestone has been applied, 15.8 bushels. 

On the Ewing field in Franklin County, corn on land with no 
treatment, 13.9 bushels, where limestone has been applied, 36.9 
bushels; for oats, 13.3 bushels no treatment, but treated, 29.2 bush- 
els; wheat 2.4 bushels for no treatment, limestone 14.2 bushels. On 
the Raleigh field, corn 8.6 bushels no treatment, where limestone 
applied 42 bushels ; oats, 8.8 bushels for no treatment, treatment 
17.7 bushels per acre; for wheat, 4.7 bushels no treatment, 19 bush- 
els where it has been treated. 

On the State farm the corn where we have had no treatment 
yielded 19.4 bushels, where we have applied limestone, phosphate 
and manure, 66.4 bushels ; oats, 10.5 bushels where no treatment, 
33.6 bushels where the treatment has been applied ; wheat, 6.8 bush- 
els against 20.3 bushels. Alfalfa, where we could not grow it at 
all, on the treated land we can make produce three and a half 
tons per acre. Where we can grow it on such land, any man in 
southern Illinois can grow it. 



16 

In all of these treatments, I have not referred to a single pound 
of commercial treatment. It has all been limestone, organic matter 
and rock prosphate. 

The Right Kind of Cows Bring Results. 

Our second trouble is with the dairy cow herself. Professor 
Rhodes gives up this data from the Cow Testing Association records 
of the University. Cows that gave from four to six thousand pounds 
of milk with an average of 5,499 pounds, were fed at a cost of 
$104.33, making a profit of $37.61 ; the group of cows giving six to 
eight thousand pounds of milk, with an average of 7,656 pounds, at 
a cost of $116.61, or a profit of $73.23; cows in the eight thousand 
to ten thousand group with an average of 8.913 pounds, were fed 
at a cost of $126.90, or with a profit of $110.07. In the ten thousand 
to twelve thousand pound cow class, with an average of 11,390 pounds, 
fed at a cost of $149.94, gave a profit of $155.74. 

What does this mean ? It means this : between groups one and 
two, with a $12.29 investment in feed, the better cow produces $35.62; 
with an investment of $10.29 between the 6.000 and 8,000 pound cow, 
it gave us a profit of $36.84; between groups three and four, we invest 
$23.04 with a profit of $45.67. Now between the first group, the cows 
that gave 5,499 pounds of milk, and the last group that gave 11,390 
pounds of milk, we have an investment of $45.62 in feed with a net 
profit on that feed, the additional feed invested, of $118.13 per year. 

Can you beat it in building and loan or other stock? Can you 
beat it by loaning money at seven and ten yer cent? Can you beat 
it in Liberty Bonds, outside of loyalty? There isn't anything that 
will net you much better on the farm, than providing limestone for 
the soil to produce more feed and then turn your feed into a profitable 
dairy cow. Six such cows, fed as in the first group Avill net you a 
profit of $225.66, but with six cows of the last group with an addi- 
tional $273.32 invested, we have the additional profit of $708.78. 
Isn't that good ? It is always best to have the good cow. 

How are we going to get the good cow? Two ways: First, select 
a profitable breed, and second, stay with it. Some persons go and 
select one breed of cows, and carry it two or three years and then get 
tired of the way she looks and breed her to another breed. Select a 
breed, Holstein, Jersey, or Guernsey and stay with it, or else clean 
out and start again. Don't mix the breeds. 

There are two systems by which we may improve our dairy herds 
— start with our very best cows and get a pure bred bull. In five or 
six generations we get a well bred animal, good enough for all com- 
mercial purposes. We should use bulls from the same family lines. 

Then another way to get good cows is by pure breeding, using 
pure bred sire and dams, but I would rather have a well bred grade 
animal than a poorly bred pure bred animal. Because an animal is 
pure bred is no sign an animal is a good one. 

There are three methods of breeding — cross breeding, inbreed- 
ing and lime breeding. Lime breeding defines itself. Take bulls from 



17 

the same family line and build up those blood lines until we get such 
characteristices as desired. When these characteristics are backed by 
strong germinal determiners, then the animal will reproduce its kind. 

I am a believer in inbreeding. The best Holstein cow on the 
State farm is inbred. The best hogs we have are inbred. We pur- 
chased six years ago, from the University, four ewes. These ewes pro- 
duced lambs, from these lambs we selected a ram lamb and have used 
him the second time in his offspring with no ill effect. You may say 
that this is too far, but I leave it to you to observe the sheep. I am 
sure you will say that this year's lambs are better than the first. Line 
breeding has built up these determiners until we are getting what we 
want. We could never have done this if we had not started with strong 
family lines. If I have purchased a good animal that is worth the 
money, and 50 per cent of his blood is good, I want some more of 
his blood, and therefore if I mate him on his daughter, I get 75 per 
cent of his blood line. We have some good authority on piling up 
those germinal determiners in this way. 

You might take one of those cows not capable of producing more 
than five thousand pounds of milk and I do not care if you feed her 
the very best feed you can possibly get, you can't make her produce 
twelve thousand pounds of milk. It isn't in her. You can't make a 
Holstein testing 3 per cent, test 5 per cent by feeding, because it isn't 
in the germinal determiners. It is by line and inbreeding that we 
build up such determiners. 

FEEDER PRODUCTION IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS. 

(P. T. Chapman.) 

Three distinctive profitable lines of farming are naturally sug- 
gested in this area. One is the raising of fruit, one is dairying, and 
the third is the production of feeders, both cattle and hogs, for the feed 
lots of the corn belt where the land is too expensive and the fertility 
of the soil too high with the present prices of grains, to permit of 
pasture for the raising of feeders. 

The true test of the profitableness of any business is the acid test 
applied to it by the banking fraternity. No business can be success- 
ful and profitable without the assistance of the financial institutions 
of the country, and a careful and observing banker who has had an 
experience of a few years in any given community can tell from his 
experience what things or enterprises are the successful ones, and what 
is best adapted to his particular locality. I have applied that test to 
Southern Illinois. During the past years the institutions with which I 
have been connected have had occasion to finance several men in the 
orchard business in the Ozarks. We have never had a failure nor 
lost a cent. On the contrary many of them have not only proven a 
success, but have achieved a competency, and though young in years, 
some of them are almost ready to become retired farmers with a 
sufficient income to support them and their families. 



18 

We have also had a great deal to do with the dairy interests. 
We have bought milk cows by the car load in Wisconsin, Michigan and 
New York, and sold them to our farmers, in many instances without 
any security except the cows themselves, and we have the first cent 
yet to charge off as a loss on any of the loans, and in fact, they have 
practically all been paid and the farmers now have the cows free from 
debt, the bank has its money, and in addition to this, the farmer has 
a good bank account, while, as you all know without my telling you, 
the fertility of his farm has been improved. 

The third proposition is producing feeders, we have had con- 
siderable experience in that also, from the bankers' standpoint. We 
have encouraged a great many of our customers to buy stock cattle, 
winter them, pasture them one summer and sell them back as feeders. 
We have furnished the money, and as security have taken a mortgage 
on the cattle. In every instance, without any exception, the farmer 
has been able to pay his loan, and in the majority of cases has sold 
his cattle so as to realize a fair profit on the investment. 

We have another class, to which I belong as a farmer, those who 
keep cows and raise calves for feeders. I figure that the keep of the 
cow raising the calf alone is worth about $30 per year. I do not 
sell the calves usually until they are about two years old, but I esti- 
mated that the calf at weaning time is worth $40, which gives me a 
profit over all costs of $10 on each cow. 

I have a neighbor who pursues a different method. He raises 
Angus cattle and sells the calves at weaning time. He usually realizes 
$40 to $50 per head. He keeps an average of twenty to thirty cows. 
He does not utilize any of their products except the calves. He has 
not a very large farm — something like 200 acres situated on top of 
the Ozarks, all rolling pasture land. This man has no mortgage on 
his farm, owns government bonds, has mortgages on some of his 
neighbors' farms, a good bank account, and is what is called a pros- 
perous and up-to-date farmer. Practically all of his ready money 
comes from his herd of cattle. He has but little expense as he does 
all of his work himself. 

The possibilities for making money in raising feeding hogs in this 
area is even greater than that of cattle. The feeder hogs of southern 
Illinois are fast coming into notice. One shipper in the town in which 
I reside has shipped during the years 1917, 1918 and 1919, 120 car- 
loads of feeding hogs averaging from 125 to 150 per load and weigh- 
ing 75 to 150 pounds. They have all gone into the corn belt. A great 
many of these hogs were raised by the dairy farmers on skimmed milk, 
clover, rape and rye pastures, costing but very little to produce them 
ready for the feed lot. 

In addition to this our climatic situation south of the Ozarks is 
favorable to the raising of winter pigs without too much expense for 
equipment in taking care of them. It is not at all difificult to secure 
two litters, and in a great number of cases, three litters per year 
from one mother. 



19 



The quality of our hogs is the very best. We have none of the 
breed of hogs left now in lower Egypt that probably were there in 
the days of Worcester and Dickens. The hazel-splitters and razor- 
backs have been exterminated, and everything is high grade, well bred, 
and since the high prices of 1913, well cared for, and production 
has been stimulated as it has been elsewhere in the United States. 

The narrow margin between the feeder hogs and the finished 
hogs has made it very profitable. All of the legumes will grow in 
this area after the application of limestone, and with legumes you 
can raise feeder hogs cheaply and rapidly. About seventy per cent 
of the area of this section should not be plowed — at least not more 
than once. Thirty per cent probably can be utilized for grain farm- 
ing by careful rotation of crops. 




Southern Illinois Feeders Find Good Market In Corn Belt. 

All of the grasses suitable for pasture grow luxuriantly on 
these lands. It makes natural pasture ground for young cattle and 
hogs, and with the addition of rape, clover, cow peas and rye it is an 
easy proposition to produce ready for the feed lot either class of 
feeders on an economical and profitable basis, and at the same 
time maintain the fertility of the soil, build up the farm, and in- 
crease the bank account. 



DEMAND FOR SOUTHERN ILLINOIS FEEDERS. 

(W. E. Riegel) 

The people in the southern part of the State can produce feed- 
ers much cheaper than we can produce them in the central part of 
the State. It costs us eighteen to twenty-two cents a bushel to husk 
our corn, shell it and load it on the car and ship it to Southern Illi- 



20 

nois. With us people in the corn belt the feed is one of the big 
problems in connection with a demand for feeder hogs. In our corn 
fields we can grow a good crop of soy beans, a good crop of rape — 
in other words, we can grow three pretty good crops on the same 
field at the same time. We have there the beginning of the pro- 
duction of pork. Instead of having to buy a lot of tankage we have 
the feed that is necessary to finish the pork right in the field. If 
we can buy good hogs here can ship them to the central part of the 
State and finish this pork. 

The kind of feeders that can be produced in the southern 
part of the State are the kind of feeders that we get from Wiscon- 
sin, some of the finest feeders that have ever gone into the corn 
feed lots. Why? Because those hogs are well bred hogs, they have 
been well developed. They have had plenty of protein feed from 
the time they were pigs until they reach 135 pounds. We do not 
have to get those hogs home and give them a dose of worm medi- 
cine, or dip them to get the lice off their bodies, and that sort of 
thing; all of those conditions which affect the hogs and make them 
less susceptible to disease have been cared for previous to ship- 
ment. That is the kind of a hog that southern Illinois can produce 
by using a little limestone, by using a little clover and by producing 
their own pigs. 

Hog feeders have found that it is one problem to raise hogs 
and it is another problem to finish hogs. There are several 
reasons for that. It takes a lot more equipment to produce your 
own pigs, take care of your brood sows and finish your hogs than it 
does to do either one job or the other. Not only that, but it takes a 
little more equipment "above the shoulders" to do both jobs than it 
does to do one or the other. In other words, if I talk with a man 
about how many pigs he has raised and he tells me he is getting 
an average of eight or ten pigs to the sow I immediately suspect 
that he only has two or three or four sows. The point is this, if 
you have eight or ten sows you get a bigger average of pigs than if 
you have a hundred and fifty sows, consequently you will make 
more profit per sow from the smaller number of sows. There is a 
smaller percentage of farmers in the corn belt who want to feed 
hogs than there is on the farms of southern Illinois who will want 
to produce hogs, consequently a large number of men in the south- 
ern part of the State with one or two or five or ten sows producing 
one-hundred-pound shpats will supply the needs of central Illinois. 
But go a step farther with producing feeders in southern Illinois 
that will be in demand in central Illinois ; a man today who is trying 
to feed and finish one or two wagonloads of hogs in the southern 
part of the State is going to feed more or less corn. 

The man who is finishing ten hogs in the southern part of the 
State can easily produce thirty-five, or forty, one-hundred-pound 
shoats at a much greater profit. The demand for good feeders in the 
central. part of- the State is and will be so great that it will take. all the 
good hogs which can be produced in southern Illinois. ■ 



21 



ORCHARD POSSIBILITIES IN SOUTHERN ILLINOIS. 

(C. E. Durst.) 

Southern Illinois has already proved herself a great fruit 
growing section. A great factor in the success of southern Illinois 
orcharding is the fact that that section is at the southern limit of suc- 
cessful apple production. South of this region the apple is not a suc- 
cess at all. This factor gives southern Illinois an advantage on the early- 
apple market that no other section can ever take away from it. 
Southern Missouri and the Virginias are the only sections that can 
possibly compete with southern Illinois on the early apple market, 
but these sections send more fruit to other markets than does 
southern Illinois, so that in practice they offer practically no com- 
petition. 

The Yellow Transparent apple, the finest earl^y apple in exist- 
ence, grows to perfection in southern Illinois. It is my under- 
standing that this variety is not a success in the Virginias, and I 
am told it does not do so well in southern ^Missouri as in the Ozark 
Hill section of southern Illinois. The Duchess, when thoroughly 
sprayed for blotch, and the South Carolina Summer, a new variety 
of promising merit, also do well in southern Illinois. All of these 
varieties regularlv bring fancy prices, and the demand is never 
filled. 

Among the late varieties, the Winesap is the most important 
and it grows remarkably well in southern Illinois. The tree is 
a good grower, a consistent bearer, and relatively resistant to ser- 
ious diseases. 














A' Southern Illinois Apple Orchard Which Speaks for Itself. 



22 

The types of soil in southern lUinois also play their part in the 
success of the fruit industry. The orchards in southern Illinois are 
grown on two main types of soil. One of these is the yellow silt 
loam, which covers a great part of the unglaciated section, embrac- 
ing the seven lower counties. These counties, with the exception 
of extensive river and creek bottom lands, are more or less rolling 
and the soil is mostly of deep loess nature, having been formed by 
water deposits in the distant past ; these later were raised by up- 
heavals into a mountain range, the chief ridge of which extended 
across the north parts of Union and Johnson Counties. The Ridge 
Road, which now covers this ridge from Cobden to Alto Pass, is 
without question the most scenic road in Illinois. 

The deepv loess soil in these unglaciated counties ranges in depth 
from a few inches to fifty feet or more. Usually, it is underlaid by 
sandstone or limestone. The best fruit land seems to be underlaid 
by sandstone. This loess soil allows easy and deep penetration by 
roots. It is not naturally rich in fertilizing elements, but it yields up 
readily the fertility it possesses. The wide feeding range of the 
roots no doubt partly accounts for this. This soil responds remark- 
ably quick to fertilizer treatment ; there is no soil that will grow such 
a wide range of crops successfully ; and with proper cultivation it 
holds moisture well enough for crop needs through the dryest seasons. 
Naturally, in a soil like this, a good tree growth is readily obtained. 

The other soil type in which southern Illinois orchards are grown 
is the gray silt loam on tight clay, lying just north of the unglaciated 
section. The moraine separating these two types extends across the 
southern parts of Jackson, Williamson and Saline Counties. The land 
is level or slightly rolling. The soil has become quite acid in most 
places and is deficient in nitrogen and organic matter. As a result, 
some orchards have become unprofitable and not a few have been re- 
moved. But with systematic soil treatment, this soil is rapidly coming 
back into its own. It is somewhat poorly drained in places because of 
the tight soil just under the surface, but fruit trees seem to have no 
difficulty under this condition. 

It is interesting to note in this connection that years ago the Balti- 
more and Ohio Railroad stopped their fast trains in Richland County 
to let their patrons view the wonderful orchards along the right of 
way. Some of these orchards would hardly bear inspection today, but 
this is due to neglect on the part of owners rather than to a lack of 
possibilities of the country. 

This section has one great advantage over the unglaciated land to 
the south. It is not so subject to soil washing. On the other hand, 
the orchards in this section are perhaps more subject to winter freezes 
and to late spring frosts than those of the unglaciated section. 

The contour of the land is another important factor in southern 
Illinois orcharding, especially in the unglaciated section. The land 
there has never been flattened out by glaciers and is more or less rough. 
It is also quite a bit higher than the land both to the north and south 
of it. For example, the Illinois Central Railroad station at Anna is 
just about twice as high above sea level as Cairo, and it is also 215 



23 



feet higher than the station at Carbondale. And Anna is not nearly 
so high as the great bulk of Union County orchard land, for the Illi- 
nois Central Railroad follows the creeks and lower land in going 
through the county. 

The Mobile and Ohio station at Alto Pass is 728 feet above sea 
level, while Etherton. only about six miles to the north, is but 403 feet 
above sea level ; and Mountain Glenn, about four miles to the south, 
is 449 feet above sea level. And all of the orchard land between Alto 
Pass and Cobden is higher than the station at Alto Pass. 

At Makanda, the Illinois Central station is 431 feet above sea level, 
but the plateaus on either side, upon which the fruit is grown, rise at 
least 200 feet higher. One cannot realize the elevation of this land 
imtil he examines the relief map. The rest of the State is practically 
level on the relief map, but as soon as the southern edge of Jackson 
and north of Union County is reached a distinct hump is found. 

The height of this land above the surrounding country gives the 
orchards good exposure and no doubt delays the blooming of the trees 
in the spring to some extent. It provides excellent air drainage, and 
thereby saves the fruit from late spring frosts quite frequently. Last 
spring,' for instance, nearly all of the peaches and apples in this section 
escaped spring frosts, when the buds over practically the entire State 
were destroyed. 

The counties in the glaciated land to the north do not have the 
contour advantages of those in the unglaciated section, but the orchards 




An "Egyptian" Peach Crop. 



in this district esoajie winter freezes that often kill the fruit in central 
and northern Illinois, and they also escape more of the late spring- 
frosts. While the land is level or slightly rolling, there is considerable 
opportunity for choice in selection of favorable sites. 

The opportunities for prospective horticulturists are very promis- 
ing in southern Illinois at the present time. There is no question but 
that fruit will grow successfully in this section, and there can be no 
question but that fruit is bound to bring good prices for some time, for 
the number of bearing fruit trees in the country is quite inadequate 
to meet the needs. 

The glaciated districts to the north does not perhaps oiTer quite the 
advantages of the unglaciated section, but the opportunities are good 
nevertheless. While some of the old orchards do not give a favorable 
impression, the facts are that where orchards have been properly cared 
for in this section excellent results have been obtained. Living proofs 
of this statement are offered by the Perrine orchards at Centralia, by 
the Dunlap orchards near Flora, by the Drew and Galeener orchards in 
Wayne County, by the Wright orchard in Marion County, and by many 
others. These holdings have made their owners some handsome profits 
during recent years and they prove beyond all doubt that fruit can be 
made to grow again in this section as successfully as it has ever grown 
in the past. 

HILL LAND ORCHARDING. 
(J. C. B. Hcatoii.) 

The hill land orchards of southern Illinois are rapidly growing 
themselves from under heavy mortgages, and pulling their owners from 
under a burden of indebtedness so overwhelmingly large, that if en- 
gaged in the ordinary lines of farming their case would be hopeless. 
The orchards are placing their owners on a financial basis so solid they 
feel that they can well afiford some of the luxuries and many of the 
modern conveniences of life. 

The way is still open for others to do the same thing, and do it 
easier and more of it, with hardly a possibility of failure, if intelligent 
use is made of the experience of others. Those who plant an orchard 
now need not make the mistakes or experience anything like the hard- 
ships of those who first began the business. At that time an orchard 
was considered by our neighbors and bankers as a liability ; now it is 
looked upon as an asset. Then it was difficult to convince any man, 
much less a bank cashier, or a farm loan agent, that a well cared for 
orchard amounted to much. Now a man with a well cared for orchard 
can easily borrow to the limit of his real needs, for it has begun to soak 
into the heads of even the most conservative bank cashiers that a man 
with a well cared for orchard has financial prospects that it is not 
good business to ignore. 

Thirty-five years ago there was not a commercial orchard within 
twenty miles of New Burnside. Now Union and Johnson Counties 
are classed as one among the greatest early apple producing sections 
in the United States. As proof of this. I cjuote from the report of 
the U. S. Department of Agriculture on condition of the early apple 



25 

crop of southern Illinois, June, 1918 : "Southern Illinois, with the 
industry centering in Union and Johnson Counties, is one of the most 
intensive and specialized areas of early apple production in the United 
States." I will say, here and now, that Burnside Township, with a 
few orchards in Tunnel Hill Township, is Johnson County when 
it comes to early apples. There are a few orchards of the old varieties 
scattered over the county ; but nearly all of the up-to-date orchards 
are in the northeast corner of the county, with New Burnside the main 
shipping point. Much of this may seem irrelevant and a digression 
from the subject, but, if I succeed in pointing the way to better things 
for some of our hill farmers, I must touch on some of the hardships 
and successes of the pioneers, that they may take courage and launch 
out into the business confidently looking forward to such success as 
was not even dreamed of by those who first ventured. 

The question might arise here, "With all the orchards now planted, 
is there not a probability of overdoing the apple business?" Nay, 
verily. When our early apples begin to move we have the whole world 
for our market without competition. We are first on the market, and 
southern Illinois will continue first for many years to come. We seem 
to be on the southern edge of good apple production and have no fear 
of successful competition. There is no place on the map where early 
apples are grown or even being planted, in sufficient quantities to be a 
competitor on the market. Hence, with our very early apples, we have 
the markets to ourselves and get the cream. If all the available land 
in this section was in early apples in full bearing, we could not glut 
the market if they were properly distributed. 

Many of our farmers seem unable to appreciate the value of our 
hills for orchard purposes and are, unfortunately for them, turning 
loose many exceptionally well located orchard sites at prices that will 
in a few years cause them to have a feeling akin to sea sickness when 
they happen to pass that way and look upon the old home farm and 
see the signs of prosperity brought about by an orchard, where they 
had toiled the better part of their lifetime for a bare living. 

For fear one may get the impression that the financial side of the 
orchard business is the only attraction, I want to say the orchardist 
has more real leisure, solid comfort, less worry and exposure than any 
other kind of farmer. The livestock farmer, the cattle feeder, the 
dairyman, sheep or horse breeder is compelled to look after his stock 
through all kinds of weather from January 1st to December 31st every 
year. The harder the rain, the deeper the mud or snow, the colder 
the weather and the more biting the blizzard the greater the necessity 
of the personal care of the farmer. But with the orchardist it is quite 
different when the rain, mud and snow comes, and the "blizzard whist- 
les through the old peach orchard," he is snugly housed with his family, 
reading the daily papers, magazines, Alark Twain or Riley, and other- 
wise enjoying the fruits of his labor until the storms of winter are 
past. The joy and satisfaction one can get out of life in the long 
winter evenings when the mercury is below zero, a blazing furnace in 
the basement, a basket of crisp, juicy, rich, red Winesaps and Jona- 
thans, with a few Grimes Golden mixed in to give variety of color 



36 

and flavor, on the table, the cider to come later, and the jellies, jams, 
marmalade, fruit butters and other by-products of the orchard stored 
away in the pantry for future reference, bring pleasures that are be- 
yond my powers of description. Just let your imagination run riot 
and try to draw a mental picture of these things as coming to your- 
self, together with the smell of the apple blossoms and the rich red 
apples at harvest time rolling over the grader into barrels that later 
bring the golden dollars and you have a bird's eye view of some of 
the good things that a well-cared for orchard brings to its owner. 

SOILS AND CROPS OF SOUTHERN ILLINOIS. 

(C. J. Thomas.) 

Our great soil areas, the gray silt loam on tight clay, was once 
thought to be nearly worthless. Now we find that it can be made 
very profitable simply by an intelligent use of limestone and le- 
gumes. Then we also have very large areas of yellow silt loam 
and in many cases this land today is rivaling the corn belt in its 
production. 

Now, I am speaking for all southern Illinois, but I am so 
much better acquainted with Jackson County that I will use that 
as an example. I believe we have every type, or very nearly every 
type of southern Illinois soils represented in Jackson County. 

We have the Big Muddy River passing through the central 
portion of our county, Avith its many tributaries. Probably every 
county of southern Illinois has something comparable to that. You 
will find the small river bottomlands and the creek bottomlands 
represent several important types. Over in one section is the 
principal area of that great type known as the gray silt loam on 
tight clay, in the northeastern portion. Only in isolated spots do 
we find that type in any other part. In another section of the 
county we find that grand area which is destined to become so 
famous for its fruit. We already have a number of very profitable 
orchards there, and that industry is being very rapidly developed. 
Then we find along the Mississippi River a broad belt of from 
two to four miles wide in many places, and there is where we get 
a chance to brag about our high producing land. Our greatest 
corn growing area in Jackson County is found in this region, which 
includes some of the best land in our country. I have seen the books 
of a certain man who has been farming this land extensively, and 
the figures show a cash return around forty to forty-eight dollars 
per acre. You know that means the land is producing something. 
That land was mainly in alfalfa. 

We have some very high producing land, producing corn mainly, 
corn and alfalfa. There is another farm in this region which has pro- 
duced practically nothing but corn in the last twenty years, and very 
few crops have fallen below sixty bushels to the acre. 

Now, we will pass from this great rich area of bottomlands to the 
northwestern portion where we find a region that has been given over 
mainly to wheat. Although in many of those places clover still grows 



27 

in a very half-hearted way without liming', the people are discovering 
that by the use of lime they can double the value of the land. Much 
of this land is also well adapted to fruit raising. It is high and is a 
very good type. It is just as good as the most approved types on 
which these orchards are so successful. 

Along the larger streams we find some bottomland that is not just 
what it should be. but just back of that we often find a type which is 
almost ideal. It is not as high in fertility as some other lands, but 
by modern methods of farming, where they have given it a little lime, 
and especially some phosphorus, this land certainly does rival the corn 
belt in production. I have in mind several farms which, under the 
adverse conditions of the last few years, made an income to the owner 
well up to corn belt standards. 

On this other type of soil, the common type that you see around 
Carbondale, I can refer you to farms where the average corn crop 
would probably be above forty bushels per acre, while some fields pro- 
duced sixty bushels per acre, even under the adverse conditions of this 
past year. Of course, lime and clover have been used to build up this 
land in humus and active organic matter, and rock phosphate has also 
been applied. 

"HARD-PAN" A MISNOMER. 

(Ferdinand Kohl.) 

Let us not hide our light under a bushel or close up like a clam, 
but tell the world where Kgypt is and what a land of possibilities it is. 
Where could you find a better dairy country? And now that we have 
learned the value of the sunflower, what a wonderful silage maker 
it is, and after liming all our land and having planted more soy beans 
and sweet clover no power on earth but indifference among ourselves 
can keep us from becoming one of the greatest dairy countries in the 
world. 

Another handicap which we have allowed to grow up is our 
native talk about "hard-pan" in southern Illinois. We have no 
such animal. We do have tight clay, but it is nothing more or less 
than tight clay. Water passed through it; it can be spaded without 
difficulty when it is wet. As a proof that it is only tight clay one need 
but expose it to the winter elements and he will find in the spring a 
nice, pliable substance in which blue grass and other crops grow re- 
markably well. 

We do ourselves an injustice by allowing this tight clay to be 
maligned, for it contains in it an element which gives to our peaches 
and apples a flavor and color unapproachable. We should emphasize 
this fact and discontinue calling it by the wrong name. 

All we need to do is to give this southern Illinois soil a liberal 
application of limestone, then plant legumes, following it with live- 
stock farminsr and a little later on by giving it an application of 
phosphate. This gives us a soil which can compete in earning ca- 
pacity with the lands of central and northern Illinois, and yet today 
it can be bought at a price materially less than its value. 




For additional copies of this report address 

ILLINOIS FARMERS' INSTITUTE 

H. E. Young, Secretary 

Springfield 



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